The invention relates generally to devices for placing golf balls on driving range tees.
Golfers who wish to practice their driving and swinging skills generally attend at driving ranges where, for a few dollars, they receive a bucket of golf balls and an environment where they can practice driving the golf balls. Generally these driving ranges consist of a mock fairway having a target at one end and a series of driving locations at the other end. Each of these driving locations generally consists of a platform having a matt of artificial turf and a rubber tubular tee mounted there to. The golfer generally places a golf ball on the rubber tee before attempting to strike the ball with his driver or golf club. Since the goal of the driving range is to improve the golfer""s skills by permitting the golfer to repetitively drive balls, the golfer generally spends a considerable amount of time reaching down to place golf balls on the rubber tee. Repeated bending over to place golf balls can lead to back pain as well as frustration, particularly if the golfer wishes to practice his or her driving skills for an extended period of time.
To alleviate some of the problems associated with continually bending over to place golf balls, several prior art devices have been introduced which automatically place golf balls on the tee. These devices generally comprise a hopper or other similar device for storing a quantity of golf balls and a pivoting arm which grabs a golf ball from the hopper and then pivots to place the ball on the tee. A key step in the process of teeing a ball is the actual placement of the ball on the tee. Prior art devices have accomplished this task by providing a pivoting arm which places a ball on the tee by pivoting downward onto the tee. These automatic tee devices are often motorized.
While existing tee devices are generally effective in tee golf balls, they suffer from several drawbacks. Firstly, most existing devices are extremely complicated having many working parts, electric motors, switches, sensors and the like. As a result, these prior tee devices tend to be very cumbersome to operate and expensive to manufacture. Furthermore, existing tee devices do not always accurately place the ball on the tee, causing the ball to fall off of the tee. A simple and reliable device for tee balls is therefore required.
The present invention overcomes the drawbacks of the prior art by providing a golf ball teeing device comprising a housing having a ball storage compartment for storing a plurality of golf balls, said ball storage compartment having walls, a floor and an opening, the opening dimensioned to permit golf balls to pass there through. The housing has a ball selector positioned adjacent the opening of the ball storage compartment, the ball selector adapted to permit only one golf ball to be moved out of the opening at a time. The device also includes a placement arm having opposite first and second ends, the first end being pivotally mounted to the housing adjacent the ball selector. The placement arm has a first channel extending between the first and second ends, the first channel dimensioned and configured to permit golf balls to roll down the channel from the first end to the second end. The second end of the placement arm has a projecting portion positioned adjacent the first channel. The projecting portion is dimensioned and configured to remove the ball from the channel when the ball rolls past the projecting portion. The extension arm is pivotally movable in substantially horizontal plane between a first position wherein the second end is adjacent a placement point for the golf tee and a second position wherein the second end is positioned away from the placement point.